Technical Efficiency of Rice Farms under Irrigated Conditions in Central Gujarat

The present investigation undertaken in the central Gujarat, has estimated the technical efficiency in rice production and has assessed the effect of farm-specific socio-economic factors on this technical efficiency. A stochastic frontier production function has been estimated to determine technical efficiency of individual farms and variance as well as regression analyses have been carried out to find the influence of socioeconomic factors. The study has revealed that the farm-specific technical efficiencies range from 71.39 per cent to 99.82 per cent, with the mean of 72.78 per cent, which indicates that on average, the realized output can be raised by 27 per cent in the region with the available technology and resources, without any additional resources. It has been found that factors like operational area, experience, education and distance of field from canal structure are the most influential determinants of technical efficiency, while the variable, number of working family members, has shown significant but negative relationship with technical efficiency. By adopting good management practices and proper allocation of the existing resources and technology, along with sound extension programmes, the potential that exists for improving the productivity of rice in the state, could be exploited.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Production Performance and Economic Appraisal of Broiler Farms in Anand District of Gujarat

The production performance of different sizes of broiler farms has been studied by collecting data from 60 broiler producers of Anand district during 2005. To examine production performance, the average feed conversion ratio, livability percentage, average body weight and age at marketing have been worked out. Though broiler production is capital-intensive, it has been found profitable. The average cost of production per broiler has been found to be ` 64 and per kilogram live weight of broiler as ` 32. The variable cost and fixed cost constitute 84.5 per cent and 15.5 per cent of total cost, respectively. The major cost components have been found as feed cost (58.6%), chick cost (21.5%) and depreciation on buildings (10.7%). The net profit per broiler as well as per kilogram body weight has been found as ` 7.20 and ` 3.59, respectively for the sample as a whole. The benefit-cost ratio has worked out to be 1.11 for the sample as a whole and it increases with increase in farm-size, indicating that as farm-size increases, the net margin over the rupee invested on broilers also increases. The break-even analysis has revealed that the producers have to maintain minimum of 1531, 2611 and 10437 broilers, respectively on small, medium and large farms to meet the cost incurred in production of broilers.Broiler farms, Feed conversion ratio, Livability percentage, Benefit-cost ratio, Break-even analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q120, Q130,

Detection of eight different tospovirus species by a monoclonal antibody against the common epitope of NSs protein

Rabbit antisera against the nucleocapsid protein (NP) have been commonly used for detection of tospoviruses and classification into serogroups or serotypes. Mouse monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) with high specificity to the NPs have also been widely used to identify tospovirus species. Recently, a serogroup-specific MAb against the NSs protein of Watermelon silver mottle virus (WSMoV) was produced by our laboratory to react with five members of WSMoV serogroup, i.e., WSMoV, Capsicum chlorosis virus (CaCV), Calla lily chlorotic spot virus (CCSV), Peanut bud necrosis virus (PBNV) and Watermelon bud necrosis virus (WBNV). The epitope recognized by the NSs MAb was determined and the comparison with the reported sequences of tospoviral NSs proteins revealed that the epitope is highly conserved at the N-terminal region of NSs proteins among members of WSMoV and Iris yellow spot virus (IYSV) serogroups, and Melon yellow spot virus (MYSV) serotype. When the NSs MAb was further used to react with the crude antigens of MYSV serotype, IYSV and Tomato yellow ring virus (TYRV) of IYSV serogroup, strong serological reactions, both in ELISA and western blotting, were observed. Thus, our results indicated that the NSs MAb is a useful and convenient tool for detection of the eight tospovirus species. It is also suggested that these eight Asian-type tospoviruses, i.e., WSMoV, CaCV, CCSV, PBNV, WBNV, MYSV, IYSV and TYRV, may share a common evolutionary ancesto

Public-Private Wage Gap in Australia: Variation Along the Distribution

Previous research on public-private wage differentials in Australia is scarce and has focused on the central parts of the conditional wage distribution. Using the first six waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, this study applies quantile regression models to examine whether the sectoral wage effect varies along the wage distribution. For females, we find public sector wage premiums for almost the entire wage distribution and the premiums are relatively stable except at the extremities of the distribution. For males, the premiums decrease monotonically and are negative for the top half of the conditional wage distribution. The decomposition results show that the observed differences in individuals and job characteristics account for a substantial proportion of the overall sectoral wage gap.wage gap, quantile regression, decomposition

Are optimistic expectations keeping the Chinese happy?

In this paper we study the effect of optimistic income expectations on life satisfaction amongst the Chinese population. Using a large scale household survey conducted in 2002 we find that the level of optimism about the future is particularly strong in the countryside and amongst rural-to-urban migrants. The importance of these expectations for life satisfaction is particularly pronounced in the urban areas, though also highly significant for the rural area. If expectations were to reverse from positive to negative, we calculate that this would have doubled the proportion of unhappy people and reduced proportion of very happy people by 48%. We perform several robustness checks to see if the results are driven by variations in precautionary savings or reverse causality.Expectations; Happiness; Consumption and Savings; China; Political Economy

An overview of current status of carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies

AbstractGlobal warming and climate change concerns have triggered global efforts to reduce the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) is considered a crucial strategy for meeting CO2 emission reduction targets. In this paper, various aspects of CCS are reviewed and discussed including the state of the art technologies for CO2 capture, separation, transport, storage, leakage, monitoring, and life cycle analysis. The selection of specific CO2 capture technology heavily depends on the type of CO2 generating plant and fuel used. Among those CO2 separation processes, absorption is the most mature and commonly adopted due to its higher efficiency and lower cost. Pipeline is considered to be the most viable solution for large volume of CO2 transport. Among those geological formations for CO2 storage, enhanced oil recovery is mature and has been practiced for many years but its economical viability for anthropogenic sources needs to be demonstrated. There are growing interests in CO2 storage in saline aquifers due to their enormous potential storage capacity and several projects are in the pipeline for demonstration of its viability. There are multiple hurdles to CCS deployment including the absence of a clear business case for CCS investment and the absence of robust economic incentives to support the additional high capital and operating costs of the whole CCS process

Droplet migration: quantitative comparisons with experiment

An important practical feature of simulating droplet migration computationally, using the lubrication approach coupled to a disjoining pressure term, is the need to specify the thickness, H, of a thin energetically stable wetting layer, or precursor lm, over the entire substrate. The necessity that H be small in order to improve the accuracy of predicted droplet migration speeds, allied to the need for mesh resolution of the same order as H near wetting lines, increases the computational demands signicantly. To date no systematic investigation of these requirements on the quantitative agreement between prediction and experimental observation has been reported. Accordingly, this paper combines highly ecient Multigrid methods for solving the associated lubrication equations with a parallel computing framework, to explore the eect of H and mesh resolution. The solutions generated are compared with recent experimentally determined migration speeds for droplet ows down an inclined plane

The effects of a 12-week leisure centre-based, group exercise intervention for people moderately affected with multiple sclerosis: a randomized controlled pilot study

<b>Objective:</b> To establish the effects of a 12-week, community-based group exercise intervention for people moderately affected with multiple sclerosis. <b>Design:</b> Randomised controlled pilot trial. <b>Setting:</b> Two community leisure centres. <b>Participants:</b> Thirty-two participants with multiple sclerosis randomised into intervention or control groups. <b>Intervention:</b> The intervention group received 12 weeks of twice weekly, 60-minute group exercise sessions, including mobility, balance and resistance exercises. The control group received usual care. <b>Main outcome measures:</b> An assessor blinded to group allocation assessed participants at baseline, after eight weeks and after 12 weeks. The primary outcome measure was 25-foot (7.6 m) walk time, secondary outcomes assessed walking endurance, balance, physical function, leg strength, body mass index, activity levels, fatigue, anxiety and depression, quality of life and goal attainment. <b>Results:</b> The intervention made no statistically significant difference to the results of participants’ 25-foot walk time. However the intervention led to many improvements. In the intervention group levels of physical activity improved statistically between baseline and week 8 (P < 0.001) and baseline and week 12 (P = 0.005). Balance confidence results showed a significant difference between baseline and week 12 (P = 0.013). Good effect sizes were found for dynamic balance (d = 0.80), leg strength (d = 1.33), activity levels (d = 1.05) and perceived balance (d = 0.94). <b>Conclusion:</b> The results of the study suggest that community-based group exercise classes are a feasible option for people moderately affected with multiple sclerosis, and offer benefits such as improved physical activity levels, balance and leg strength